I don't know what Rice's deal has been. When Pierce has been in the game, he's been running a lot better than Rice. Rice has still been a big threat catching the ball though.

Why not run Ray Rice when out of sets that don't signal to the world that it's a run? Why not out of a 3-4 WR set or something. Maybe even a draw from shotgun? Just to make the defense defend both instead of stacking against RR

01-24-2013, 01:29 PM

Paintballguy

Re: how do we stop 49ers vaunted pistol offense?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Your Worst Enemy

Why not run Ray Rice when out of sets that don't signal to the world that it's a run? Why not out of a 3-4 WR set or something. Maybe even a draw from shotgun? Just to make the defense defend both instead of stacking against RR

Yeah, I agree. Rice seems to be better out of a 1 back set. I think they just got too predictable in the first half against the Pats. They opened it up in the 2nd half when they came out in 11 personnel.

01-24-2013, 02:02 PM

callahan09

Re: how do we stop 49ers vaunted pistol offense?

OK, well I did a bit of research on our Defense versus Atlanta's lately, and it's pretty interesting what I found.

I went back to the last 3 games of the regular season + the post-season.

For Atlanta, that represents 6 games, 4 at home and 2 on the road.
For Baltimore, that represents 7 games, 3 at home and 4 on the road.

In this span, here is a bit of comparison, with what Atlanta allowed first, Baltimore second:

Looks like we've been playing much better defense than them down the stretch. Their defense had been on the field for an entire game and 105 plays less, but has allowed more yards and more touchdowns!

The completion percentage and yards per pass that they allow is very, very high. Comparably, we allow much fewer completions per attempt and we allow far fewer yards per play (pass, rush, and overall).

I think Colin Kaepernick had such success against that defense because they haven't been playing very well down the stretch, and they are a team that notoriously chokes in the playoffs.

It won't be so easy against the Ravens.

Recall as well that the majority of our games in this stretch have been on the road, while most of Atlanta's have been at home.
Also, we had to do it against teams ranked the following in the relevant categories:

Yards: 1, 4, 4, 5, 10, 14, 22
Points: 1, 2, 2, 4, 6, 12, 19

As opposed to Atlanta, who did it against teams ranked:

Yards: 3, 9, 11, 12, 14, 17
Points: 6, 9, 11, 13, 17, 19

See the difference here? They faced 1 top 5 team in yards, we faced 4. They faced 0 top 5 teams in points, we faced 4. They played 4 games at home, only 2 on the road. We played 3 games at home, 4 on the road. And our numbers are that much better than theirs.

01-24-2013, 02:16 PM

Bigfish

Re: how do we stop 49ers vaunted pistol offense?

We have to hold our own in the trenches with the run game. The run defense has improved in the playoffs probably due to finally getting our best defenders on the field. Hopefully the lower numbers against the run against the Patriots point to a trend. The double overtime against the Broncos skew the numbers to a certain degree.

The 49ers are a stronger run defense team than any of our previous play off opponents. We'll need to step it up on both sides to keep the running totals from being too lopsided. There's reason to believe we're peaking at the right time, but it's doubtful that we can dominate them on the ground. The X factor to me is Pierce. He has had a much better average yards per carry over Rice. Rice has been effective in screens and dump offs in space.

I believe we can only win this game with a superior passing attack and not losing the turnover battle, something we have been good at except the Colts game. Flacco will need to repeat the performances he has had in the playoffs this year. The defense needs to confuse Kaepernick with exotic coverages to limit his effectiveness.

01-24-2013, 02:20 PM

Shambla

Re: how do we stop 49ers vaunted pistol offense?

One promising stat I saw, even though we were an uncharacteristic 20th in run defense during the regular season is that the Ravens actually finished 8th in yards per attempt (4.0). We didn't get behind big aside from the Texans and Broncos games, I guess teams were just ready to run a lot when they came to play. Indy had a lot of success but it looks like the Ravens are getting healthier and/or clamping down in the post season:

I know Kaep has a good arm, but I still think the key to winning is to keep Gore and Kaep under wraps from a rushing standpoint. If the Ravens can do that I think the D will limit the SF offense and Joe's going to have his success on the other side.

01-24-2013, 02:22 PM

Paintballguy

Re: how do we stop 49ers vaunted pistol offense?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shambla

One promising stat I saw, even though we were an uncharacteristic 20th in run defense during the regular season is that the Ravens actually finished 8th in yards per attempt (4.0). We didn't get behind big aside from the Texans and Broncos games, I guess teams were just ready to run a lot when they came to play. Indy had a lot of success but it looks like the Ravens are getting healthier and/or clamping down in the post season:

I know Kaep has a good arm, but I still think the key to winning is to keep Gore and Kaep under wraps from a rushing standpoint. If the Ravens can do that I think the D will limit the SF offense and Joe's going to have his success on the other side.

I think a big part of it is Ngata is getting healthier. Ngata has been looking better every week IMO.

01-24-2013, 02:35 PM

Ravens44

Re: how do we stop 49ers vaunted pistol offense?

All the comparisons are great and they shed some light, but what they don't show is how this Ravens team is not even the team that dominated the Giants.
This team is unrecognizable from what they were against Denver the first time.
That throws all comparisons for a loop.

The current Ravens team took shape for the Colts playoff game...not the week before or the week before that or the week before that. But it did take the entire season for this team to take it's current shape and identity.

That is why it is hard to identify with hard numbers where the current Ravens are.
I personally think the two teams have differences but they even out.

If anyone told me before the playoffs what the Ravens defense was going to do in these 3 playoff games, I would have said, wishful thinking. Our guys are playing out of their minds. And they absolutely believe something bigger is driving them. They are beating the opposing players man-to-man across the board. Shutting out Brady in the second half was the culmination of this amazing 3 week run.

In the end, IMHO, it will be one of two things that produce victory: The 49er youth at key positions being too much physically OR our gifted players with experience NOT making the mistakes that youth brings.
This whole game could and probably will turn on just a very few key plays.
Namely, a turnover or two OR a fantastic individual play or two.
The entire rest of the game, I think, will be even and extremely hard hitting.
Our old warriors will lay it out there like it is their last breath.
Should be an incredible game.

01-24-2013, 02:40 PM

admartian

Re: how do we stop 49ers vaunted pistol offense?

Just hit Kaepernick.

But according to Niner fans Kaep comes from the planet Krypton and that once, he ran towards some gang-bangers in order to save a cat and an old lady crossing the street, in Oakland and shrugged of machine gun fire.

True story.

01-24-2013, 02:52 PM

Ravens44

Re: how do we stop 49ers vaunted pistol offense?

Quote:

Originally Posted by admartian

Just hit Kaepernick.

But according to Niner fans Kaep comes from the planet Krypton and that once, he ran towards some gang-bangers in order to save a cat and an old lady crossing the street, in Oakland and shrugged of machine gun fire.

True story.

Did any of those Niner fans watch their team play against Atlanta?
If the Niner Defense (that means their off-earth QB was on the sideline) didn't stop Matty Ice at the 10 yard line (or if the Refs called PI at the 5 yardline), Atlanta would be going to New Orleans instead.

01-24-2013, 03:10 PM

admartian

Re: how do we stop 49ers vaunted pistol offense?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ravens44

Did any of those Niner fans watch their team play against Atlanta?
If the Niner Defense (that means their off-earth QB was on the sideline) didn't stop Matty Ice at the 10 yard line (or if the Refs called PI at the 5 yardline), Atlanta would be going to New Orleans instead.

Nah man - you jsut hatin'. When was the national media ever wrong???? This is the same national media that said we wouldn't win against the Broncs, Pats or ....errr....... um.... I mean....

Hail Kapernick, supreme overlord of the earth!

01-24-2013, 04:00 PM

jaydee414

Re: how do we stop 49ers vaunted pistol offense?

Actually, I see Ngata, Suggs and Upshaw as the keys to this game for the Ravens. As Haloti92 & JeremiahW pointed out, the issue becomes edge discipline and inside physicality. Ngata/Kemo/Cody MUST account for Gore on EVERY play, and Upshaw and Suggs MUST maintain the edge on Kaepernick. He seems quick and fast enough that a momentary slip-up by our edge guys could equal a big gain for CK7. I actually see Upshaw as less of a liability than Suggs due to, a) he's seen similar O's as recently as last year, and b) Suggs is still not close to 100%.